The invention applies typically, but not exclusively, to electric control cables or to power cables used for conveying electricity. Such cables are conventionally made up of a plurality of electrical conductor wires (or strands) of copper. The wires are twisted together to form a twisted strand of cross-section of no more than 0.5 square millimeters (mm2), and the twisted strand is surrounded by an insulating sheath, e.g. obtained by extrusion.
Such cables are used in various fields in industry, such as in the automotive industry, where they are assembled into bundles for electrically powering various pieces of equipment. The cables thus need to be as light as possible in weight, and to be compact, while nevertheless conserving good mechanical strength.
In attempting to replace annealed copper strands by hard copper alloy strands in order to improve the mechanical behavior of the twisted strand made therefrom, it has been found that said copper alloy strands are difficult to handle during twisting because of a “spring” effect presented by said electrical conductor wires.